Donovan McNabb’s weekly paid radio appearance on ESPN980 focused on one topic: his benching. And he was pretty good.
Part I of McNabb’s thoughts on the benching (and here’s Part II, when he talks about his future in Washington):
On when the move was communicated to him: “Thursday evening after practice, going to my evening meeting is when I was sitting down talking with Coach Shanahan. Communication that was a little different, but the decision wasn’t actually made then, but it was made after I left. A little odd, but it’s a decision that’s made and you move on.”
On what was odd about it: “Normally if you go through a process like that you would hear about it on a Monday or Tuesday. I don’t think you hear too much about it Thursday going into a Friday practice. My mindset was being a starter and going to Dallas and helping the team win. That was ended on Thursday evening.”
On when he thinks the decision was actually made: “I don’t know. If it was made then or weeks before, I don’t know. I’m just going off the communication that I had. We all know from sources say and inquiries and getting on TV and people talking about they heard this or they hard that… Obviously when someone has heard something they obviously heard it from someone close to a source or THE source.”
On the process and decision: “Throughout the whole process everyone has to understand the way this whole thing went down to me was off and one that I strongly disagree with because I’ve always believed in, if you start something you finish it. I wanted to be out there with the team. Anything after that, that’s a decision you would have to make. Nothing against Rex or Beck. We’re a very close bunch in the room.”
On if finding out later in the week was a non-professoinal way to handle it: “In business, communication is key in anything you do. What I was saying is, if a decision was made it’s important for all parties that you communicate that early. The terms I did use were professional and in a situation where you’re communication on something that is our job and one that we truly prepare ourselves to be the best… you’d like to hear it early and if you hear it late, it throws off the preparation for a lot of guys.”
On if the reasons Shanahan said publicly are also what he told him: “In so many words, yeah. But again if we’re evaluating me, then you evaluate everyone else. That’s the key that no one is looking at. Do you evaluate everyone else? Do you evaluate just the quarterback position? But it’s one that I felt like I was pulled back by it. When you get in that situation and you get this news a couple days before the game, you do feel somewhat disrespected. You could have told me earlier or at least prepared me for it. But it’s over; I’m focusing on what I need to do to be a strong backup now at the No. 3 position.” (McNabb laughs).
On if being a No. 3 is demeaning to him: “Yeah, I don’t think too many guys go from a 1 to a 3. That’s an unfortunate situation where I’m one of the few to be part of. “
On his response: “As a quarterback and leader of the team, you want to be out there and fighting with your team and despite the playoff scenario, I don’t think that’s a way to take someone out. There’s a lot that you’re playing for in certain situations some guys are playing for jobs later on, some guys are playing for an opportunity to be back and other guys are playing for pride. When you’re in a situation like this, you don’t show your hand and say there’s a lot of free agents out there and there are draft picks… Well, let’s focus on what we have here. Let’s get this core group so when you add pieces to the puzzle, it’s a shoe-in and guys fall into place quickly.”
On if he thinks the Shanahans don’t think he was a good fit in this system: “I don’t know. That’s one I can’t answer.”
On his gut feel for what they might not like about him: “I think a lot of times you look from a glass half-full and I say that because you really can’t judge if someone is good for your offense off of just one season. When you learn something that you haven’t learned or learn it the way they want it or it’s something new for the first time in your career, obviously things will be a lot different. To make an evaluation early says there’s a little bit more into it.”
On if he got angry: “Of course you get upset.”
On if it was confrontational: “No, I didn’t flip a desk over or flip a chair.”
On if there was permanent damage to the relationship: “Not at all. Not at all.”
On if he has a bigger problem with the way it was handled or the benching itself: “The way it was handled. Everything was handled awkwardly, somewhat to a disrespect to me and to the team.”
On the timing of it: “Because of the timing and because of all the leaks and everything put out there and no putting out the fire… There was no, ‘He’s our quarterback; this is what we’re doing.’ There was nothing to that effect and then everything afterwards for me, there’s no guarantee he’ll be here to everything else like, ‘Wow, I’m hearing everything through the media.’ “
